"Hello I just got back from a 10 day demo test of the new kites on tuesday, we had everything from 10 knots to 30 knots, flat lagoon riding to REALLY messy 3m waves, cometimes one on top of the other, I will post a video soon Really scary for my level of riding but the Tarifa hardcore were on top form. I am so impressed how the level of riding goes through the roof in the top spots.

I took the following kites Instinct Light 5, 7 and 12m, Sport 9m 11m and 13m, Edge 9m and 11m.

The big surpise the week was how the lights performed, initially billed as a beginner kite or school kite, they were ripping up the waves, amazing depower, really light kites which enabled the riders to head toward the kite without the kite just dropping out of the sky, people were also boosting nice big air off the top of the waves. The kites that perfrmed the best were the smaller lights as you can imagine, really fast on the turn and everyone coming off the water with big smiles. Not sure how well the 12m will work in waves as we didnt really get a chance to test it in those conditions but we tested it in low winds and it pulls like the 13m Sport but doesnt turn fast enough for waves, people said it wasnt as dynamic as the sport, needed more input. The 12m was more of the school kite or occasional kiters machine, not for the dedicated wave heads was the feedback I got.

We had 2 schools testing the Light and both placed orders.

The Sport 13 11 and 9m seemed to be flying together all the time, which is testimoy to the wind range, there is a huge improvement on the turn reaction from last years, it starts faster and is very positive throughout the whole turn even though the bar pressure is lighter. There was one point where the only kite holding its line on Sunday afternoon on the main beach in Tarifa was the 13m Sport, which is saying something. Negative feedback was the bar pressure is too light. But that was also part of the positive feedback too.

The 13m got heavily munched in a massive wave, (see forthcoming video) so did the rider, the rider pulled the safety and let the kite go, the kite came back to the beach looking very sorry but when we went to pick it up there was nothing wrong with it. Very tough or very lucky, or both.

The Edge... oh my goodness... the feedback was that the 11m is the fastest 11m on the market today, our rider was double looping the kite and still going up, everyone loved it, the 9m was out in at the same time I was out with the 7m Light, I was out the back of the waves, riding the swell, when I saw Tom, a Tarifa local taking off with the 9m Edge to clear a wave, he went up and up and up, clearing the wave and the next one, I have never seen a flight like it. He is a very experienced rider and told me he never has never flown so high or for so long in his life. Massive smiles. His only gripe was that he didnt manage to get a clean pop from the messy water to really check out the kites capabilities.

All in all the tests were very well received and everyone who flew the kites loved them, a pleasure to work with them.

I hope that some poeple who were at the test can write some more on this thread as I know how it sounds coming from the distributor. I want to say bad things but it was not the feed back I got.

Wind ranges.... the 11m starts planing around 13 good knots for me (80kgs) the 13m Sport not much less, around 12 knots, We also had the 13m sport out in 8 knots with a big surf board, see vid.. and it flew very well, the wind was really bad, 8 and less sometimes, the rider didnt manage to stay up wind but it wasnt by much.

Coleman, I think the 11m might be a little powerful for 30knots and your weight but you will be struggling with the 9m at 14 knots unless you have a nice big board. The 9m seemed to kick in around 15 knots with a smaller rider.

If you get a chance to test one, go along and do it, you wont be disappointed and if you are, just try a different model, there is a kite for everyone this year.